The program is based on the principle divisions of Condensed Matter Physics.

The program was developed by the Expert Council of the Higher Certification Physics Committee of the Board of Education of the Russian Federation, by the Moscow State University, the Institute for Physics of Metals, the Ural Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Baikov Institute of Metallurgy of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Point defects, their formation and diffusion. Vacancies and interstitial atoms. Frenkel pairs and Schottky defects. Linear defects. Edge and screw dislocations. Role of dislocations in plastic deformation.